Editorial: EPCAL revenue still too much to expect

In the past few months, this newspaper has editorialized more than once on the town’s budget situation. It faces a $1.6 million deficit in 2015 — and no formal budget has even been presented yet.

Our opinion is pretty clear at this point and, we think, pretty simple: The Town Board should let residents speak out about whether or not they would prefer that their taxes be raised beyond the 2 percent cap, and put politics aside when drafting the budget.

So we would be remiss if we didn’t comment on Supervisor Sean Walter’s plan to use anticipated revenues to fill the gaping hole in next year’s general fund budget.

We hope plans to sell at least some of the land at the Enterprise Park at Calverton come to fruition by the end of next year.

But history has proven that when it comes to EPCAL, things are never as easy as they seem, and the supervisor’s insistence on including that revenue next year is misguided. The Town Board’s rejection of a bridge loan that’s dependent on those sales indicates as much.

Hard decisions will need to be made by this Town Board, starting at the top. So far, that isn’t happening.